Monday, 4 November 2013

Out This Week - 4th November 2013

Swearin' - Dust In The Coal Sack

The timeline of Philadelphia via Brooklyn fuzz-punks Swearin' is near perfect, with a duo beginning to make demos in 2011 before fleshing out into a full band for 2012's self-titled debut album. A year later they're back with second LP 'Surfing Strange' which contains more grungy yet melodic DIY guitar tunes, one highlight being the single 'Dust In The Coal Sack'.

Following recent single 'Cloud', Killing Fields Of Ontario give us their new album 'How The World Ends' this week, and just like the single, album track 'Our Place To Drown' shows a band who've really found their feet and focus, coming up with a wonderful, slow-burning alt-rock song that should, by rights, see their star rise. Or at the very least reel in some rave reviews.

Canadian indie/soul/pop masters Chains Of Love continue the slight evolution hinted at by single 'Pretend' earlier this year on 'Follow Me', both of which appear on new EP 'Misery Makers Volume 1' which is out this week. It's another non-stop onslaught of retro stylings and giddy melodies that follows on nicely from their splendid debut.

Now based in Oxford, Young Knives are turning into one of indie's great survivors. They formed in 1998, released their debut record in 2002 and then found fame in the spiky guitar-pop scene that hit in the middle of the last decade. They diversify though, and do so without losing their identity, and that's maybe the secret to pensive, epic new single 'We Could Be Blood' from album 'Sick Octave, both out this week.

It's almost impossible to believe that Dean Wareham has reached his half century. Unlike many stars of alternative music (or music in general) his ideals seem to have remained the same, so this first solo mini-album isn't a slip into middle-aged comfort, it continues in the same vein as former projects Galaxie 500 and Luna, as well as his work with Dean & Britta (often including Sonic Boom). The sound remains similar but no compromise is made and although the style is familiar there's still a clear desire to push forward and experiment. His voice sounds as great as ever, and that guitar still bares his trademark sound, yet there's something hypnotic about 'Emancipated Hearts', possibly the droning strings that loop along with the guitar, joined by sparingly used electronics and other sounds, resplendent with a sing-along "na na na-na" ending. Wareham's spark is as bright here as it's ever been.